Wednesday, April 29, 2015

My
son Ross was on the mound for his Little League team, pitching for only the
second time in his nine-year-old life.He walked two, and his confidence was shaken. Then he threw one wild
pitch and hit the batter on the foot. Now he was really rattled.He gave up a couple of hits and runs, and the
bases were still loaded. Suddenly, he
pulled himself together, striking out two and catching a pop-up to end the
inning.After the game I told him how
proud I was of his tenacity and wondered how he got through that tough
spot.He shrugged his shoulders and
said, "I don't know, Mom. I just kept throwing the ball."

I've
been thinking a lot recently about that beautifully simple philosophy. I'm not
a quitter, but I have my limits.A
friend and I have been trying for more than a year to work with a local
business on an idea we think will help both the company and the community, but
a lot of difficulties have blocked our way.I'm trying to use the ideas and the inspiration God has given me to make
the project work, but I'm starting to doubt myself and am ready to give
up.Then I hear Ross's innocent
words.They're akin to Paul's
encouragement of Timothy: Forge ahead, strengthened by God's power. Only then
will I know, as Paul did, that "I have fought the good fight…[and]
finished the race" (2 Timothy 4:7, RSV).

Win
or lose, Paul's aim was to finish the task God set before him.I need to do the same.In my trials I'm learning that while God
doesn't promise victory, He does offer a guarantee: If I "just keep
throwing the ball," God will be beside me every step of the way.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

James
said, "Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of
righteousness." (James 3:8) He chose peace as the seed because true
righteousness can't grow where there is discord. Unrighteousness grows like
weeds in an environment where uncertainty and anxiety abound. Evil loves
discontent and restlessness. Mind you, James doesn't use the word
"peacekeepers," but "peacemakers." People who try to get
rid of strife through kowtowing or weakening their principles fail in bringing
about a deep and lasting peace. Peace for the sake of expediency is fragile, at
best.

Peacemaking
runs deeper than peacekeeping. To sow the seed of peace is to press a truth
gently yet firmly into the soil of another's heart. When peace prevails, that
which is "right" is given room to flourish. We can see circumstances
for what they are. We are able to choose the right path.

Peace
is a powerful seed in your hand. Sow it in the midst of a sinful world that is
too contentious to discern right from wrong. Speak words of peace to those in
your church who have lost their sense of what love is and who loves them
dearly. Let dissension and discord pass from your hearts so that the stranger
in your midst might be wooed to the Righteous One.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Marriage is more than your
love for each other. It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God's holy
ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of
time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage
you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to
pass away to His glory, and calls into His kingdom.

In your love, you see only
the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of
responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private
possession, but marriage is more than something personal -- it is a status, an
office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes
the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that
joins you together in the sight of God and man.

As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity,
the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the
promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now
on, the marriage that sustains your love.

Friday, April 24, 2015

One of my great pleasures in working with trees is
being able to see and work with trees that were planted and/or cared for by my
father and some even by my grandfather. And, to be able to point out these
trees with pride to my family. Trees are a marvelous gift from God that connect
one generation to those that precede and succeed it. In this manner, the work
of my ancestors has been passed along for me to enjoy and likewise, I pass
along for my children and future generations.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Not
because it's pleasant or happy or easy, but because this moment is the only
moment you've got.Every past moment is
irretrievably gone.It's never coming
back.If you live there, you lose your
life.

And
the future is always out there somewhere.You can spend an eternity waiting for tomorrow, or worrying about
tomorrow.If you live there, you
likewise will lose your life.

This
moment is God's irreplaceable gift to you.Most of all, this is the moment that matters because this moment is
where God is.If you are going to be
with God at all, you must be with Him now -- in this moment.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Entering
into silence is like stepping into cool clear water. The dust and debris are quietly washed away, and we are purified
of our triviality. This cleansing takes place whether we are conscious of it or
not: the very choice of silence, of desiring to be still, washes away the day's
grime.

Monday, April 20, 2015

It's
not always the red-flag crisis days that are hardest to take. It's the
"oatmeal days." The ordinary, "zero" days of little or no
consequence. The ho-hum days filled with nothing of any particular interest.
Colorless. Uninteresting. Unfascinating. Unspectacular. And unfun. The days
everyone deals with.

We
cope. We wend our way through the tangle of tedious activity and sandpaper
people scattered through our day and get applause, because coping is expected.

Not
so during the red-flag crisis times. People tend to rally behind us with loving
support. We're lifted above the crisis and enabled beyond human comprehension
at times.

On
oatmeal days, after a crisis has peaked, it may seem as if friends have
forsaken us, as if God doesn't care. But the reality will be that life has
merely pushed us and our friends one step further in the Christian growth-walk.

The
God of the crisis times is the God of oatmeal days, too. Because He said He is.
Because He keeps His promises -- always. Because we can't get along without
Him. And because we wouldn't want to if we could.

-- Unknown, quoted by
Barbara Johnson in So, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy!

Friday, April 17, 2015

Some
say He was just a good teacher, but
good teachers don't claim to be God.

Some
say He was merely a good example, but
good examples don't mingle with prostitutes and sinners.

Some
say He was a madman, but
madmen don't speak the way He spoke.

Some
say He was a crazed fanatic, but
crazed fanatics don't draw children to themselves or
attract men of intellect like Paul or Luke to
be their followers.

Some
say He was a religious phony, but
phonies don't rise from the dead.

Some
say He was only a phantom, but
phantoms can't give their flesh and blood to be crucified.

Some
say He was only a myth, but
myths don't set the calendar for history.

Jesus
has been called the ideal man, an example of love, the highest model of
religion, the foremost pattern of virtue, the greatest of all men, and the
finest teacher who ever lived. All of those descriptions capture elements of
His character, but they all fall short of the full truth. The apostle Thomas
expressed it perfectly when he saw Jesus after the resurrection, and exclaimed,
"My Lord and My God!"(John 20:28).

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Faith
is meant to be an everyday companion -- not a weekend guest.In the curriculum of the Christian life,
faith is a required course -- not an elective.Our whole life should be lived on the basis of faith -- not on the basis
of just what we see.Because appearances
are often deceiving, obscuring rather than clarifying things of eternal
significance (2 Corinthians 4:18).Faith
gives us the clues to distinguish between the temporal and the eternal, between
our earthly hut and our heavenly home.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Jesus said, "The thing
you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these
other things you need will be given to you. So don't worry about
tomorrow."(Matthew 6:33-34 NCV)

During the height of Jesus'
popularity in Israel,
crowds followed Him everywhere, hungry for a word of insight or a touch of
compassion. At that time, Jesus spoke at length (probably over several days)
the words of what has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. Seated on a
hill, Jesus shared practical lessons based on spiritual principles relating to
everyday concerns. Jesus spoke about anger, revenge, and greed, the importance
of building strong relationships, and God's provision for everyday needs, such
as food and clothing.

Just like people today, the
people of Jesus' time must have struggled to put all this into perspective.
They must have longed to "get their priorities straight." Jesus'
answer was simple: Put God first and everything else will fall into place. This
life principle is as powerful today as it was back then. Relationships, goals,
responsibilities, and desires are constantly competing for your attention. Only
by looking at them from God's perspective can you make wise decisions on how to
use your time and energy in the way that makes the most positive and effective
difference.

By continually choosing to
live out your life in a way that reflects the priorities of God's kingdom in
heaven, your concerns about things that are out of your control lose their grip
on your heart. Your dependence on material provision is transformed into a deep
dependence on God. That's when you discover that whatever God provides is
enough.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Consider
the vastness of the universe.Our galaxy
is one of about a million galaxies in the range of our most powerful
telescopes. If we could travel at the speed of light, 186,000 miles a second,
it would take 100,000 years to go across our galaxy. In our galaxy it is
estimated that there are 100 billion stars. Our sun is just one of them.
Traveling in an orbit 155 miles a second, our sun would take 200 million years
to complete a revolution around our galaxy.

"To
whom then will you compare Me, or who is My equal? says the Holy One.Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who
created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all
by name; because He is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is
missing." (Isaiah 40:25-26 NRSV)

No
wonder the Psalmist writes, "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and
the firmament proclaims His handiwork."(Psalm 19:1 NRSV)

Consider
the wonders of earth itself. It spins on its axis without slowing up -- giving
us day and night. It is tilted, so that we have the different seasons. It is
just the right distance from the sun, so that we do not freeze or burn up. The
earth contains all the natural resources necessary to sustain life. There are
countless scientific testimonials to the orderliness of the world that prove an
incredibly powerful Being created the universe.

--
New York Gospel Ministries

#3636

NOTE: In connection with today's quote, I
am offering one of my photographic images -- "Door County Sunset - Psalm
19" -- on a Limited
Time Promotion.

Friday, April 10, 2015

That subtle nuance makes all
the difference in the world, both this one and the next.

You can base your identity
on a thousand things -- the degrees you've earned, the positions you hold, the
salary you make, the trophies you've won, the hobbies you have, the way you
look, the way you dress, or even the car you drive. But if you base your identity
on any of those temporal things, your identity is a house of cards. There is
only one solid foundation: Jesus Christ. If you find security in what you have done, you will always fall
short of the righteous standard set by the sinless Son of God. The solution?
The gospel. There is only one place in which to find your true identity and eternal
security: what Christ has done for you.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

We
all want to spend eternity with God.
We just don’t want to spend time with
Him. We stand and stare from a distance, satisfied with superficiality. We
Facebook more that we seek His face. We text more than we study The Text. And
our eyes aren’t fixed on Jesus. They’re fixed on our iPhone and iPads -- emphasis
on ‘i.’ Then we wonder why God feels so distant.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Very
few things in life are "always" and "never." Your wife
doesn't always tell you how to drive. Your pastor isn't always asking for
money. It's not like your kids never do a thing you say. But when it comes to
God, there are some always and nevers you can take to the bank.

He
is "always at His work" (John 5:17), never dozing off or growing
tired of meeting your needs. He is "always righteous" (Jeremiah
12:1), never changing to accommodate the times. Jesus "always lives"
to pray for you (Hebrews 7:25), to continually insure that your sins are
forgiven, if you've trusted Him for salvation. He is a rock of refuge to which
you can "always go" (Psalm 71:3).

He
will "never stop doing good" to you (Jeremiah 32:40), always
supplying you with all you really need. He tells us not to worry about money or
the future, because He has promised, "Never will I leave you; never will I
forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). His years "will never end" (Hebrews
1:12). He has "set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed" (Daniel
2:44). "Heaven and earth will pass away," Jesus said, "but My
words will never pass away" (Luke 21:33).

Life
may seem a tangled mess of empty words and broken promises. But when your trust
is in God, you're on the most solid footing of all. Blessed is the one who
"always fears the Lord" (Proverbs 28:14).

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

"God
will raise our bodies from the dead by His marvelous power, just as He raised
our Lord from the dead." (Ephesians 6:14 NLT)Think
about the greatest manifestation of power you could witness.Perhaps a hurricane or tornado came to mind,
maybe an earthquake or an atomic bomb.I
read about something more powerful than any of these.On May 18, 1980, there was an incredible
explosion, estimated at 500 times the force of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.The blast ripped 1,200 feet off the top of a
9,700-foot volcano named Mount Saint Helens.Within one minute a cloud of ash blocked out
the sun.Sports Illustrated
reported that the "heat, blast and ash destroyed 26 lakes, 154 miles of
resident trout streams and 195 square acres of wildlife habitat."That
display of raw power is impressive.However, the Bible tells us that the presence of our God could make not
only Mount Saint Helens crumble but also all
the mountains known on earth.The
psalmist wrote, "The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the
Lord of all the earth" (Psalm 97:5, NLT).God is an awesome and powerful God, Creator of both heaven and
earth.Ephesians teaches us that the
greatest manifestation of God's power was not for destruction but for the resurrection
of Christ from the dead!--
Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians#3631

Monday, April 6, 2015

When
Jesus Spoke about a seed that is planted in the ground and then dies, He was
referring primarily to His own death. He would pour out His life for others on
the cross. At first, His death would look like a tragedy, but in the end it
would be a triumph. It would look like defeat but would really be a victory.
Jesus’ death would ultimately be the triumph of the resurrection power of God’s
self-giving love over the forces of sin, evil, and death. This is why
Christians say, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” We
often call this proclaiming “the mystery of faith.”This
mystery is unique to Jesus. We cannot do what He did. But Jesus invites us to
share in a different part of the mystery. Like a seed that is planted in the
ground and dies, we are invited to die in order to live. This is the gospel
secret expressed by Jesus. If we want to become alive to ourselves, to others,
to the world, to God, to Jesus, and to the Spirit, we must let go. We must lay
down our lives for God and for others in order to be raised to life.Let
me be clear. When Jesus spoke like this, He was not trying to lay heavy burdens
on our lives. He was describing reality. Richard Rohr says that God always
comes to us disguised as reality. Jesus was describing the reality of how life
works. … We can embrace it or fight it. When we embrace it, we are transformed.-- Trevor Hudson in Invitations
of Jesus#3630

Friday, April 3, 2015

Despite
our earnest efforts, we couldn't climb all the way up to God. So what did God
do? In an amazing act of condescension, on Good Friday, God climbed down to us,
became one with us. The story of divine condescension begins on Christmas and
ends on Good Friday. We thought, if there is to be business between us and God,
we must somehow get up to God. Then God came down, down to the level of the
cross, all the way down to the depths of hell. He who knew no sin took on our
sin so that we might be free of it. God still stoops, in your life and mine,
condescends.-- William H. Willimon in Thank
God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross#3629

Thursday, April 2, 2015

"God made Him who had
no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of
God." (2 Corinthians
5:21)The moment you bow your knee
to the lordship of Jesus Christ, all your sin is transferred to Christ's
account and paid in full. It was nailed to the cross two thousand years ago!
But that's only half the gospel. Mercy is not
getting what you deserve -- the wrath of God. Grace is getting what you don't deserve -- the righteousness of
Christ. Everything you've done wrong is forgiven and forgotten. And everything
Christ did right -- His righteousness -- is transferred to your account. And
then God calls it even.It's like God says, "I'll
take the blame for everything you did wrong and give you credit for everything
I did right." It doesn't get any better than that, and that's why it's
called the gospel. It's not just good news. It's the best news.-- Mark Batterson in All In#3628

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

"Therefore
if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort
from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same
love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking
to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your
relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very
nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death -- even
death on a cross!"(Philippians
2:1-8 NIV)Rick
Warren has observed, "Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is
that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The
second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or
do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be
compassionate." Jesus didn't. He demonstrated that on the cross.#3627

Search This Blog

Welcome to SOUND BITES

By David T. Wilkinson

Over the years I have collected quotes that pertain to the Christian faith and life in general. As I have read or studied what others have written, I have been struck by the profound thought that is captured in their few short words. These quotes have been shared through SOUND BITES Ministry™ , a five-day-a-week inspirational e-mail ministry, and now are shared through this blog as well. You will also find us on Facebook by clicking SOUND BITES Ministry on Facebook.

Visit the photo website of David T. Wilkinson Photography which celebrates God's creation. Click on the image below...

Get Connected

How SOUND BITES came to be

During Lent 1999 God prompted me to think about a new idea as to how I might share these thoughts with a broader audience. At the same time, our family was experiencing the first anniversary of the death of our son, Dustin, who died at the age of sixteen from a brain tumor. So, beginning on that anniversary, March 29, 1999 we began an e-mail ministry in memory of Dustin that we call SOUND BITES: Something to chew on that is good for the soul™. Five days a week, Monday through Friday, I share one of these quotes with subscribers. Hopefully recipients find something of faith and life to think about and chew on, which feeds their soul and helps them grow spiritually. Since its inception, over 4,000 daily quotes have been sent out. The subscriber list continues to grow numerically and geographically with subscribers in every state in the U.S., and also in Canada, Mexico, and numerous other countries around the world. Currently more than 2000 subscribers receive SOUND BITES directly via e-mail and many others second hand. Now through this blog we expand our outreach even more. To read comments on the 13th anniversary of SOUND BITES Ministry™, click 13th Anniversary Comments.